Chapter Eleven- Earned It
And you deserve it,
There were so many wires and tubes, all serving different purposes but working towards the bigger picture. Almost like mirror twins, where Regina's right wrist was encased in a hard purple cast, Emma's left was in a red one. Oxygen was being supplied through her nose, and Regina could see the protrusion of the chest tube coming from under Emma's left breast. Her eyes were closed, and they were purplish blue with bags underneath. A tell tale sign of how much sleep the blonde had actually been getting.
"Hello darling..." Regina croaked out before clearing her throat. She stood at the foot of Emma's bed, afraid to go any further. She could see the expanse of bruised flesh covering Emma's torso, her breast covered in a sports bra like top and her bottoms were a pair of loose hospital paper shorts. A nurse was checking her vitals, and when the heart rate increased, she smiled.
"She can hear you. You can get closer sweetheart, it will do her some good. We were expecting her to wake up by now but anesthesia effects everyone differently. Hopefully you talking to her will give her the encouragement she needs." The nurse smiled, watching Regina hesitantly walk over. Turning slightly to the side so she could use her left hand to grasp Emma's right, she flinched when the blonde's fingers twitched before squeezing her hand.
"I-I'm so sorry...I couldn't get the door open...I couldn't help you." Regina's bottom lip quivered, as she took in her girlfriend's features. Emma tried to breath deeply through her nose before she frown and her lips parted. A small whimper escaped chapped lips, and Emma squeezed her eyes together tightly before blinking slowly. It was a couple of moments before the younger teen was able to get her bearings.
"Hi." Emma managed to rasp out when her eyes finally settled on Regina.
"Hey, how are you feeling? Well that is a stupid question! I mean you're in a hospital bed!" Regina rambled.
"Yeah...How'd I get here?" Emma's eyes flitted around the room in confusion
"Y-You don't remember?" Regina swallowed harshly, placing her hand on the bars to Emma's bed.
"Bits and pieces I think. What happened to your hand? What happened to my hand?" Emma's eyebrows furrowed deeply as she was coming out of her dazed stupor.
"Your...Your dad- He." Regina couldn't finished
"He did this to me...to you." Emma stated in a soft monotonous voice looking straight ahead.
"I tried to stop him! I never would have pursued you if I knew this would be the outcome!" Regina bit down on her bottom lip once it started to tremble again.
"Stop!" Emma snapped before hunching slightly as she let out a wheeze.
"None of this is your fault! I should have told the first time he did it." Emma shook her head before laying back, breathing heavily out of her nose.
"That wasn't the first time?" A deep voice boomed from the entrance. Jonathan was standing there grinding his teeth as he clenched and unclenched his fist.
"Papa..." Emma whispered before flushing a deep red.
"Princess why didn't you tell me." Jonathan shook his head, disappointed with himself that he missed it.
"...I dunno." Emma shrugged as she man walked deeper into the room.
"I can't believe he did this." Jonathan's vein in his temple was protruding as he held in his angry.
"Just like I told Regina, this isn't your fault. This isn't anybody's fault by mine and his." Emma finished the sentence with a coughing fit.
"This ain't your fault! If your Mama had just listened to me-" Jonathan stopped abruptly
"I can't blame her. She wasn't there when any of this happened, she didn't know. She thought he was a loving father to everyone but me. If I had just been better as a daughter." Emma started coughing again
"Don't you ever say something like that again! Your the best kid I know, anybody would be lucky to call you their daughter. That piece of shit doesn't deserve that right!" Jonathan stated but Emma simply looked away.
"Don't tell me that you'd be proud to have me as a kid when you didn't even try for us. I seen the way you looked at Ingrid...we could have been happy once...with you. But you didn't even try." Emma whispered
"What was I supposed to do, Ems? She said she was happy with him, I had to swallow that pill!" He looked at the girl he considered his only child pleadingly.
"You knew she wasn't going to be happy! You knew I wasn't either! Where were you those two years they sent me away?" Emma shot him an accusing glare, watching him look away in shame.
"There was nothing I could do. She wouldn't answer any of my calls or texts. I thought she had finally sent you to live with her sister upstate like she said she was going to do." Jonathan admitted.
"Whatever." Emma grumbled, coughing again.
"Emma, he's here now." Regina rubbed tiredly at her eyes but she could see Emma soften.
"Yeah he is. Is my mom here?" Emma's eyes widened slightly.
"Yeah but last I checked she was talking to her mom and your sister in the hall. Her parents are here too, speaking of they're probably waiting to take you home." He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the brunette for a moment before looking back at Emma as if he thought she'd disappear.
"You're leaving?" Emma tried hard not to seem disappointed, but Regina saw through it.
"I wasn't planning on it but my mother is in a mood and I really don't want to set her off. Let me go speak with her." Regina trailed her cast covered down Emma's legs avoiding her exposed bruised torso. Tugging the paper pants up slightly, she sighed before heading out to speak with her mother. She didn't expect to see Kathryn and the older blonde woman arguing.
"This is all your fucking fault! All of it! You let it get this far because you refused to leave a man who has done nothing for this family." Kathryn spat as Merida rubbed her arm.
"Katie, calm down. This is neither the time nor the place." Merida chastised her granddaughter
"Actually I think this is the perfect time!" Kathryn protested
"Kat-" A shaky voice broke through and they all turned to a teary eyed Maleficent.
"What are you doing here? Surprised your not with your mother trying to bail the bastard out!" Kathryn turned on her little sister. Sure she had a good relationship with the younger blonde but Emma was her baby sister, their baby sister. And as far as Kathryn was concerned, Mal did nothing to protect her.
"I never seen him like that Kat! I swear I had no idea." Maleficent argued
"What? Did you think the stories were made up? We told you how he treated her but you didn't give a damn because in his eyes you were his Princess. The daughter that could do no wrong!" Kathryn sneered
"Please! He was the same way with you! Why would I think that he'd be any different with her?! I never thought he'd actually hurt her like that. He told us he loved her, that he just wanted the best for her. I believe him because he was my daddy! How was I supposed to know he was some monster?!" Maleficent shouted catching her sister off guard.
"Contrary to your beliefs, I do love her too! She is my little sister too!" Maleficent stated
"Yeah well you have some funny way of showing it! Why didn't you ever tell him that you were gay too, hmm? He wouldn't have sent her to that camp had you came out when she did!" Kathryn accused.
"Girls, for the last time. This is not the place for airing out all of our laundry! Now both of you sit down and shut up!" Merida barked, watching both of the young women respond to the request.
"I'm going to need you both to give statements to the police." Cora spoke up, already typing away on her phone.
"Mama who are you writing?" Regina questioned before letting out a small yawn. She was absolutely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to climb into her best. But she felt guilty about that considering her girlfriend was laying in a hospital bed right now.
"Your godfather. Seems like someone by the name of Esmeralda McBride contacted him about defending the man who attacked you both. He is being blacklisted right now, the only person that will defend this case will be a public defender." Cora slipped her phone into her pocket before giving Regina her attention. Pushing the brown locks out of her daughter's face she frowned.
"We should probably head home. You've been through a lot and you are practically dead on your feet." Cora said.
"I don't want to leave Emma." Regina argued
"Darling I think she'll understand. Besides they are going to be pumping her with medicine for the next few days. She'll be in and out of it. You are no used to her unless you are well rested." Cora stated firmly and everyone else murmured agreements
"Don't worry. I'll tell her you'll be back. I'm going to stay with her until visiting hours are up."Kathryn promised watching Regina nod reluctantly before she was led out by her mother and father.
"I don't think either of you should be here right now." Kathryn crossed her arms before glaring at her other sister and her mother.
"Katie that isn't your decision to make. Let Emma see them and decide if she wants them here. Right now the wee lamb could use all the support she can get." Merida interjected watching her granddaughter grumble.
Ingrid was the first to step into Emma's room with Maleficent and Merida close behind while Kathryn chose to wait at the door, knowing they were violating the hospital's one at a time policy. The blonde mother didn't know how to feel about her soon to be ex-husbands love child being here but she chose to focus on Emma instead. The teen was blinking slowly, and her breathing was deep as the tube in her chest drained the fluid and blood from her lung. Occasionally she broke out into a coughing fit if she tried to breath to quickly but she was slowly catching on.
"Mom?" Emma's voice was raspy, almost as if she had lost it. It wasn't a surprise considering how loud she was screaming back at the studio.
"Hey baby." Ingrid greeted softly, walking over and sitting in the seat that Jonathan had vacated over ten minutes before.
"Did Regina go home?" Emma looked at her mother with unfocused glassy eyes and Ingrid struggled to keep it together.
"Yeah, she was exhausted. I'm sure she'll be back soon." Ingrid tried to assure her.
"If she was smart she wouldn't." Emma mumbled before lazily lolling her head to the side. She frowned when she saw Maleficent.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned
"Your my little sister, I wanted to make sure you were okay." Maleficent admitted but Emma just crinkled her nose
"Yeah...okay." She muttered unconvinced.
"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Merida asked rubbing her legs. Emma looked down to the large patch of her covered torso knowing that there would be a scar from where her rib was removed.
"Like I'm going to miss out on the Nutcracker." Emma swallowed harshly, wondering how this particular injury was going to affect her dancing career.
"Don't worry about that silly play, there are dozens more where they came from. You need to concentrate on getting better so I can get you home." Merida watched Emma hunch over coughing with a pained expression.
"What's going to happen to him?" Emma questioned
"He isn't getting away with any of this. Regina's mother along with the police are handling the bulk of it right now. You are probably going to need to give a statement but my guess is he will be going away for a very long time." Merida answered, watching Emma nod slowly.
"Baby...I am so so sorry." Ingrid sniffled, wrapping her arms around herself because she knew nobody was going to comfort her after how far she let things go.
"Mom stop." Emma shook her head. Her vision was getting blurry and her speech was slurring as she felt the timed medicine begin to been pumped through her IV. She sucked in a sharp breath as a prickling sensation started at her toes before spreading up.
"But Emma if I had just-" Ingrid started
"Look I don't wanna talk bout it. Either way it happened and nothing is going to change...it. I don't wanna keep living it with half ass apologies." Emma murmured before her eyes slipped close as she fell asleep
AN: Been extremely sick for like a month now, my apologies on the delay.